“Riley, I have a confession to make,” Alex rambled into his phone as he stumbled his way back to his hotel room.

“What’s that?” Riley humored him, resting against the mound of pillows at the head of her bed and stretching her legs out in front of her under the comforter.

“I’m drunk.”

Riley snorted into her end of the phone call in an attempt to not laugh at him. She was well aware. “You don’t say...”

“I do say,” Alex gasped.

“Are you alone right now?” she asked, worried that his drunk ass wouldn’t be able to find his way back to the right room.

“Yeah... The other guys are still at the bar. But I was tired and missed you and wanted to leave so I could call you before it got too late.”

All Time Low were nearing the end of their Back to the Future Hearts tour and were currently in Highland Heights, Kentucky - which was three hours ahead of California where Riley was.

“It’s three in the morning out there! How much later would you have stayed if you didn’t want to call me?” Riley asked with a laugh.

“Probably another hour or so since we don’t have any traveling to do tomorrow.”

Riley could hear a door knob jingle so she felt comfort in knowing he had made it back to his room okay. At least she hoped it was his room.

“You can relax. I’m back in my room,” Alex informed her. Even in his drunken-state he knew Riley was worried about him without her even having to say it.

“That’s good news,” she said.

The phone line went kind of muffled as Alex juggled taking off his jeans and crawling into bed, all while trying not to drop the phone.

“Fuck, Riley,” he groaned once he was situated in his bed. “I miss you.”

Riley frowned to herself. “I miss you, too.”

“I know I saw you a little over a week ago when we played shows in California. But that was only a few days and before that I didn’t see you for almost a month. Do you know how long that is?”

“I know how long it is. It was that long that I didn’t see you either,” Riley reminded.

“Wow,” Alex gasped. “You’re right. That sucks. I’m sorry. You must miss me a lot too, huh?”

“I sure do.”

“Remember like four months ago when you and Summer came on tour with us? Why didn’t we do that this time?”

“I have a job and Summer has school.”

Alex scoffed. “Quit your job. And homeschool Summer.”

“How do you suppose I pay for homeschooling if I don’t have a job?” Riley challenged him.

“Uh... You’ve got me, duh. Don’t you remember that your boyfriend is now the singer for a band with a number one album?”

“How could I forget?” Riley laughed. “Would that make you my sugar daddy or something?”

“Definitely or something...” Alex said with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have drank so much. Now I’m sad and lonely.”

“You don’t have to be sad or lonely. Just focus on the next two weeks of shows and then you’ll be home and we get to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m really excited about that trip,” Alex said, seemingly having forgotten about being sad and lonely already.

“Me too,” Riley agreed.

She hadn’t really been back to Arizona in years once she left. While she was living in London, her parents moved to San Francisco so every holiday the whole family would come to California as it was much more exciting than Arizona.

This year, her Aunt Nora was celebrating her 60th birthday and her Uncle Kevin decided to throw her a surprise party under the ruse of the out-of-town-family coming for the holiday.

Riley was a little nervous about going back there, especially with the way she left things with Brian over the summer - that way being not speaking again after their afternoon in Starbucks. She knew he lived in LA now and wouldn’t be in town since Jess casually dropped into conversation that he would be in Michigan over Thanksgiving. She should have been more worried about running into his in LA but that didn't bother her as much as Arizona did.

“Riley, what are you wearing?” Alex asked her, abruptly pulling her from her thoughts on Arizona.

“What am I wearing?” she laughed, having a feeling she knew where this was going. “Do you want me to lie to you or tell the truth?”

“The truth, of course!”

“I’m wearing some sweat pants and an old *NSYNC t-shirt,” she answered honestly. “Oh, and my hair is pulled up in a giant bun on top of my head and I’m wearing my glasses.”

“Dammit,” he groaned, his eyes falling shut as he tried to picture his girlfriend as she described herself. “You’re so freaking hot.”

Riley laughed again. “Well, I disagree at the moment, but thank you.”

“I’m serious, Riley. You’re like the hottest girl I’ve ever met. And I have met a lot of girls...”

“You’re pretty hot, too, Alex.”

“I know,” he brushed her compliment off. “But back to business... Are you alone?”

“Yes, Alex. I’m in my bedroom and Summer is asleep.”

“That’s great news. Now how are we going to do this? Are we going to do the version where we say what we wish we could do to each other or the version where we say what we’re doing to ourselves and just do it?”

While almost a necessity with how often they were away from each other, phone sex was something it took Riley a while to get comfortable with.

She had no problem being open with Alex about what she liked in the bedroom when they were face to face, but for whatever reason, when they were hundreds of miles away from each other, connected only by a cell phone, she felt awkward and sort of embarrassed by the whole thing.

Alex was super understanding and patient with her and never, ever forced her to continue with it if she started to feel uncomfortable. It took some time but she eventually got to a place where she could push passed her insecurities and enjoy the private time with her boyfriend.

“I’ll let you decide, but you got to let me catch up,” Riley said, kicking the blankets off her legs and springing from her bed.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m pouring myself a glass of wine,” she said, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder while she uncorked a fresh bottle of Rosè.

She may have gotten comfortable with it, but that didn’t mean the extra liquid courage didn’t help.

“That just makes you even hotter,” Alex confessed.

Riley laughed to herself as she took a big sip from the wine glass before refilling it and putting the bottle away.

“Okay,” she said into the phone as she left the kitchen. “Why don’t you tell me what you want to—-”

She paused mid-sentence when she heard a loud bang outside her door followed by a muffled voice that sounded like it was calling her name.

“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, setting her wine glass down on the coffee table in the living room and walking closer to the door where the voice got louder.

“Riley, what’s wrong?” Alex asked, noticing her attention was clearly no longer on him.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I think someone’s yelling in the hallway outside my apartment.”

“Don’t open the door,” he instructed, immediately forgetting about the previous plans and becoming very protective. “And do not hang up with me.”

“Relax. I’m sure it’s nothing,” she assured him, pressing her eye to the peep hole to get a better look at the noisy person.

“Riley?” she heard from the hall again and this time she recognized the voice immediately.

“Shit,” she muttered to herself. “Alex, I have to call you back.”

“What? Riley, no! Don’t hang up on-“ Alex yelled into the phone before the line went dead. “Fuck...” he groaned to himself before trying to call her back a few times, only to have the call ring and ring until her voicemail picked up.

Riley shoved her phone in the pocket of her sweat pants and swung her door open.

“Brian! What the hell are you doing?” she asked in a hushed but scolding tone as she found her old best friend sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway outside her apartment.

“Riley!” he exclaimed. “I found you!”

She raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you mean you found me?”

“I wanted to come see you. So I asked Jess where you lived. And she told me only after I had begged her a few times. Apparently she hates me now but likes you again. I got to this building and remembered she said the eighth floor. But I couldn’t remember if it was apartment C or D...” he rambled from the floor.

“So you thought it was best to just call my name from the middle of both apartments and hope for the best?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed again and she quickly hushed him. “It obviously worked because I found you,” he said, finally lowering his voice.

Riley sighed. “How did you get here?” she asked, hoping he didn’t drive since he was clearly very drunk - possibly more drunk than Alex just was.

“I took an Uber.”

“Thank God,” she muttered to herself, extending her hand to help him up. “Could you get up off the floor, please?”

“Of course,” Brian happily took Riley’s hand, but he was basically dead weight so it took both of Riley’s arms to pull him up.

“Uh, is everything okay?” Stacey, who lived in the apartment across from Riley asked, finally having opened her door to see what the commotion in the hall was all about.

Riley rolled her eyes at how long it took her friend to check on the situation but shook her head. “Just a second,” she said before turning to Brian. “Go inside and sit on the couch, and for the love of God, keep your voice down.”

“Got it,” he whispered, and carefully tiptoed into the apartment and into the living room.

“What the hell is going on? I was in the middle of a pretty intense dream where Iron Man and Captain America were fighting over me when my phone starting blowing up with texts from your crazy, drunk boyfriend concerned that you were being murdered!” Stacey whisper-yelled from her doorway.

“Well, I was in the middle of starting to have phone sex with my crazy, drunk boyfriend when my crazy, drunk ex-best friend started screaming my name from the hallway!” Riley whisper-yelled back.

"Wait," Stacey’s eyes went wide and she took a few steps towards Riley. “That was Brian?” she gasped. “Do you think it was a good idea inviting him into your home?”

“I don’t know but it’s better than him drunkenly carrying on out here.”

“No,” Stacey said, subtly gesturing behind Riley. “I mean for Summer,” she said through gritted teeth while Summer stood behind Riley.

Riley quickly spun around to find her daughter rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asked with a yawn.

Thankfully there was a wall blocking Summer and Brian from each other’s view.

“Nothing, sweetheart. Just a neighbor's rowdy friend was leaving,” Riley said quickly.

“Okay...” Summer said slowly. She was old enough to start picking up when her mother told her white lies but not old enough to actually understand why.

“Actually, Summer, how do you feel about spending the night with me?” Stacey interjected and Riley quickly shook her head.

“Why?” Summer asked, her interest peaked.

“I watched a documentary about aliens before I went to bed that kind of freaked me out. And I’d rather not be alone.”

“Really?” Summer asked with a poorly hidden giggle.

“Please? I’ll treat you to breakfast in the morning and everything.”

“Can I, Mom?” Summer asked, looking up at her mother.

“I suppose so,” Riley shrugged.

“Nice; I’ll go get my things,” Summer said before rushing off to her room.

“Why did you do that?” Riley asked.

“Uh, because her damn father is drunk and sitting on your couch. Can you imagine the damage if this was their first meeting?”

Riley sighed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. Thank you.”

“Goodnight, Mom!” Summer said, coming out of her bedroom with a pillow and her stuffed Yoda and kissing Riley on the cheek. “Love you!”

“Love you too,” she said, grabbing Summer’s hand before she ran into the hall. “I trust that you’ll stop back here before you go anywhere for breakfast in the morning without brushing your teeth?”

“Duh,” Summer rolled her eyes.

“See you in the morning. Good luck,” Stacey said before heading into her apartment with Summer.

Riley took a deep breath before stepping back inside her apartment and closing the door behind her. She quickly pulled her cell phone from her pocket and saw six missed calls, four voicemails and twelve text messages from Alex.

What is going on?

Why aren’t you answering your phone?

Pick up!

Fuck Riley what the hell?

Who was at the door?

Are you okay?

Hello?

I’m freaking out here

Please answer your phone!

Fuck.

I’m going to call Stacey

No, fuck that. I’m going to call 911

Thankfully the threat to call 911 had just come in and Riley prayed he didn’t actually do it yet. She quickly texted back.

Alex, calm down! I’m fine.

It was just Brian at my door. He’s super drunk.

I’m not really sure what he wants. But everything is okay.

Summer is spending the rest of the night with Stacey while I figure out what to do with him.

Thank Fuck. I was so worried.

Brian? What the hell does he want??!

Good luck with that. I love you. Call me tomorrow and let me know what happens.

Okay, I will. Sleep well! XOXO <3

Shoving her phone back in her pocket, Riley stepped into the living room, ready to get this over with.

She found Brian at the far end of the room, looking at a framed picture of Riley, her daughter and Alex from the summer.

“You guys look like a really happy family,” Brian commented, holding up the frame when he noticed Riley walk into the room.

“You have no right to just show up here like this,” Riley said sternly.

“I’m sorry,” Brian muttered, carefully placing the frame down and sitting on the couch.

“Why are you here?” she asked, sitting on the love seat adjacent to Brian.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Riley rolled her eyes. “Bull shit.”

“I really don’t know,” Brian argued. “I just know that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the summer.”

Riley’s eyes widened a bit and Brian quickly shook his head.

“Not like that!” he said, maybe a little too quickly. “I knew I fucked up when we spoke in Starbucks. You were trying to do the right thing and it was my turn to mess it up.”

“So you thought showing up at my apartment in the middle of the night, drunk, was the best way to fix it?”

Brian shrugged. “It was the only time I had enough courage to do it.”

“So, what now? You’re here... What happens now?” Riley asked.

Brian shrugged. “I don’t know how to answer that, Riley. I don’t know what’s supposed to happen.”

“Well, maybe you should sober up and think about it.”

Brian nodded, standing up slowly. “I’m sorry for bothering you...” he said as he slowly started making his way across the room.

“Where are you going?” Riley asked.

“I didn’t think you wanted me here anymore...”

Riley sighed. “It’s the middle of the night. I’m not about to send you out onto the streets like this. You can sleep on the couch.”

Brian eyes lit up. “I can?”

“Just promise not to throw up all over the place, please?” Riley said, thinking back to how many times she had to take care of him when he got too drunk when they were younger.

“I promise!” he said, taking off his shoes. “I don’t really do that anymore.”

“Good. Don’t start again now,” she said, standing from her seat and walking to the hall closet where she grabbed an extra blanket and pillow.

“Thank you,” Brian said, taking the blanket and pillow and situating himself comfortably on the couch.

“You’re welcome,” she nodded, spotting her wine glass from earlier on the coffee table and picking it up. “Goodnight, Brian.”

“Goodnight, Riley.”

Making her way back to her bedroom, Riley took a big sip from her wine glass trying to figure out how her night took such an unexpected turn.

Notes

Hmm...Brian's back. What could that mean?